The Ministry of Justice has sent a petition to the Supreme Court asking for the hearings in the case of the Russian Memorial Society, set to take place on 13 November, to be rescheduled, reports Interfax, citing the Ministry’s press service.

Officials explained that on 5 November 2014, the Ministry of Justice received a petition from Memorial asking for the hearings to be rescheduled. The civil society activists based their request on the grounds that they are planning to hold a conference on 22-23 November “to rectify the violations identified by the Ministry of Justice”. In this regard, the Ministry has decided to cooperate with Memorial, Grani.ru reports.

TASS reports that on 10 November, Deputy Justice Minister Sergei Gerasimov, commenting on the Ministry’s intention to file the petition, said: “We have never closed down NGOs that do not comply with the law as an end in itself.”

The official added that while making its decision, the Ministry had “studied Russian human rights ombudsman Ella Pamfilova’s appeal [to Vladimir Putin] to postpone the hearing of the case very carefully”.